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Old April 21, 2011, 05:22 PM   #1
.300 Weatherby Mag
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Beretta 3901 WOW!!!

Took my new Beretta 3901 12 gauge out to the Skeet Range (Prado) on Tuesday afternoon.. I was shooting a straight till I missed the low house on the double on station 6... FAIL!!!!... Ended up with a 23 out of 25 the first round I shot the thing... Best $600 I've ever spent... Best part of the whole deal was that I beat two shooters on the field who were shooting Perazzi 12 gauges... The other two were shooting Berettas, 686 Onyx and 686 Silver Pigeon III.. It should be mentioned that my dad was one of the shooters who got pwned... Kicked his butt again the next round with the 870 Wingmaster that Remington sent me as a replacement for the defective Wingmaster I had... Shot a 22 with the pump...

Review on the 3901:

Basically its a reissued 390 without the humpback receiver, 28" barrels, matte black, synthetic stock, 2 3/4" and 3" shells.. Points like a dream... Functioning was 100%... Gas system was easy to clean afterwards...
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Old April 21, 2011, 06:12 PM   #2
TheKlawMan
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Very interesting these Eyetalian guns! Especially since I am thinking about a second shotgun that would either be an 0/U, but likely not as a decent one tends to be too pricey, or a semi, which's soft recoil may be nice. $600 goes also a nice price. I will look into it and may see you at Prado.
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Old April 21, 2011, 06:37 PM   #3
zippy13
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Quote:
Best part of the whole deal was that I beat two shooters on the field who were shooting Perazzi 12 gauges...
Did they know they were in a competition? An analogy would be if you said your new car must be great, because you passed a Ferrari that was in the slow lane.

In reality, you made it all the way to Station 6 and blew it -- if the gun was working that well for you, why didn't you get a straight? You'd just shot the low house in singles, why miss the same bird on the pair? Consider joining the NSSA, enter a tournament and then you'll know who you can actually beat. Practice rounds don't count.
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Old April 21, 2011, 06:46 PM   #4
williamd
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Maybe Zippy13! But, I do better in a real shoot under pressure. Was true in benchrestign years ago and in trap/skeet today. Maybe ol' 300 Weatherby Mag (useless prestige calibre) would do better with the pressure.

And, maybe not ....
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Old April 21, 2011, 07:20 PM   #5
zippy13
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williamd,
I know exactly what you mean. I have two shooting buddies who, week after week, have almost identical scores in practice. One typically shoots better in matches and the other worse. Like you, I'm one of the fortunate who performs better in tournaments than practice. The point I was trying to make was, how other shooters performed has no bearing on the review of the R-3901.

If .300 Weatherby Mag had said that he'd just finished 600 NSSA targets with the 3901 and it had bumped him from A-class with a Perazzi to AAA with the Beretta, then I'd be thinking of swapping one of my Perazzis in for a bottom dollar Beretta. I'll try almost anything that looks like it might improve my scores.
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Old April 21, 2011, 08:32 PM   #6
.300 Weatherby Mag
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Zippy,

My father used to shoot NSSA competitively... I told him beforehand that I was going to kick his butt with my cheap Beretta... He knew what was going on... Am I good enough to be competitive in NSSA?? Absolutely not... Did I have a good day and whoop my dad ( a former AA shooter)?? Yes... It was meant more as a smack talking post... I know that in reality I can't compete with the B, K, and P guns... I have better guns, I just bought this gun as something I can drag everywhere and not worry about smacking pretty walnut.

Quote:
In reality, you made it all the way to Station 6 and blew it -- if the gun was working that well for you, why didn't you get a straight?
I was so full of myself spanking everyone with my cheap gun... I lost focus...

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Old April 21, 2011, 08:48 PM   #7
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There's another thread going where I did the same thing - shot 24 twice after I starting thinking abut running it

The EXCELLENT point my friend Zippy is saying is that going out on a fun day and having a good day versus going out on a comp day are two different animals - like it or not, a comp shoot has more pressure, gets your BP elevated a little. starts making you think twice - all the little nuances that can mean a target here and a target there - just enough to mean you went from first to worst

Glad you had a great day that day - if you can successfully replicate it day after day after day - now you are on to something

Keep up the good work..............eye on the rock, head on the stock
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Old April 21, 2011, 09:00 PM   #8
.300 Weatherby Mag
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oneounce,

Beating my Dad in a competition or not.... Is a good day in my book... With my luck, during a our next outing he will shoot a pair of 25s just to make up for the shame of this defeat.. I do completely agree about there being a difference between practice and competition... I have played sports and raced motorcycles..
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Old April 21, 2011, 09:24 PM   #9
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Depending on the age of your dad............sometimes it is OK to "let" the old man win........at that stage it is ab out the memories together, not on who won or lost.................cherish that for a moment
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Old April 21, 2011, 09:28 PM   #10
.300 Weatherby Mag
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Depending on the age of your dad............sometimes it is OK to "let" the old man win........at that stage it is ab out the memories together, not on who won or lost.................cherish that for a moment
Dad is 53... No mercy...

Anymore... I do cherish the time we get to spend together...

Last edited by .300 Weatherby Mag; April 21, 2011 at 09:38 PM.
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Old April 21, 2011, 10:28 PM   #11
zippy13
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Am I good enough to be competitive in NSSA?? Absolutely not...
Don't be putting yourself down. You don't have to shoot AA scores to shoot in NSSA events. That's why there is the class system and special awards for rookies. If you're into Skeet, don't do what I did and wait too long to start. I was under the misunderstanding that you had to shoot 99s or 100-straights in practice before you were good enough to shoot NSSA targets -- not so. Once you get past the initial phase of cluelessly stumbling around the Skeet field and start shooting consistent scores, then you can start competing in the lower classes.
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Old April 21, 2011, 10:35 PM   #12
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Quote:
Shot a 22 with the pump
That's the amazing part.

Nice...
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Old April 21, 2011, 11:09 PM   #13
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++ on 22 with a pump. I meant that is pumping. I have only tried skeet twice because I shoot a pump and not well enough to have even a remote possibility of getting a double, which so far I only managed to do one time during a lesson and that was with a borrowed $10,000+ Berreta O/U. I was feeling good that I was even able to hit bird 1 out of the low house and get a round off in the general direction of bird 2 before it left the range and long after it passed the breaking point.
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Old April 22, 2011, 10:00 AM   #14
Creek Henry
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I got to shoulder some guns at the new Cabelas and the 3901 and X3 fit me the best. If I can sell my Red Label, I'll pick up whichever I can get the best deal on.
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Old April 23, 2011, 08:42 AM   #15
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Congrats on the 3901. Its a great gun and the 391 was an answer to a problem that didn't exist IMO.
Enjoy shooting with the old man, wish I could still shoot with mine.
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Old April 23, 2011, 11:20 AM   #16
BigJimP
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Trust me when I say - as a father and grandfather ...when one of my boys in their 30's beats me / or any of the grandkids who are from 2 - 19 beats me ...it won't be a bad day ..../ I'm only 60 ...but it will happen one of these days, I hope !!
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Old April 23, 2011, 01:13 PM   #17
Will Beararms
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I was at a Cabela's opening last weekend. Beretta had their trailer there. I handled every shotgun they had in the trailer. As far as semi-autos go, the 3901 felt the best.
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